Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000

The principal law enforcement officer for an authorised operation, or any other law enforcement officer on behalf of the principal law enforcement officer, may apply to the chief executive officer for a variation of authority for any 1 or more of the following purposes—

to extend the period of validity of the authority, other than as provided by section 247(2);

to authorise additional or alternative persons to engage in controlled conduct for the purposes of the operation;

to authorise participants in the operation to engage in additional or alternative controlled conduct;

to identify additional suspects, to the extent known.

More than 1 application for a variation may be made in relation to the same authority, but no single variation may extend the period of validity of an authority for more than 6 months at a time.

An application for a variation of an authority may be made—

by way of a written document signed by the applicant (a formal variation application); or

if the applicant reasonably believes that the delay caused by making a formal application for variation may affect the success of the operation—orally in person or under section 800 (an urgent variation application).

In an application, whether formal or urgent, the applicant must state—

sufficient information to enable the chief executive officer to decide whether or not to grant the application; and

whether or not the proposed variation, or any other variation in relation to the same authorised operation, has been the subject of an earlier application for a variation; and

if the proposed variation, or any other variation in relation to the same authorised operation, has been the subject of an earlier application for a variation—

whether or not the variation was granted; and

if the variation was granted, the type of variation granted.

The chief executive officer may require the applicant to give additional information about the proposed variation the chief executive officer considers appropriate for consideration of the application.